Well my dears, here is the next chapter. Chapter XXIII.I hope you enjoy this Chapter. It is much longer than the last one. Be grateful! I put a lot of work into it. I am decently pleased with it though.

I hope I do not poison any of you against Black. That is not my intention. Okay so what if it is? I HATE HIM! My feelings of animosity trasfer in my story.

Why am I putting it off? Because I can and I want to and for the plot to develope properly it needs to.- grins smuggly -

To recap - Last time Hermione drank two different potions...a memory altering potion and a love potion. Both were administered by the dreadful Sirius Black. -BOO BOO BOO!-

Do not expect this to happen again.

Still at grandparents and lacking spell check so we are relying purely on me and my ability to tell if something is misspelled.

Graduation Night at Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry

Before I knew it, it was graduation night. Sirius and I had spent time together every day since the night he had carried me back to my common room. Many of the females of Hogwarts were burning in their own pits of envy. They were glowing such a bright shade of green, a shade I had not seen since I had been dating Viktor Krum. What hurt me most, though, was the amount of suspicion that generated from Remus and Harry. They were treating me different. They were always concerned over me. They constantly glared at Sirius whenever he would bring me back after tea. What is wrong with them?

Sirius told me what was happening with them though. He told me that they'd been behaving like mother hens. So while I was hurt...I did not think their suspicion was anything more than the typical worry they displayed when I was talking about a boy so I wrote it off entirely and I was not nearly as upset with them as I might have been.

I dressed up beautifully that night. I had been going through my things and found a gorgeous green dress and a beautiful pair of earrings. I had no clue where they came from though. I assume they must be a gift from Sirius so I eagerly put them on. Why were snakes decorating them though? I guess because it matched my charm bracelet. There could be no other explanation.

I knew I would be graduating at the top of the class. What else did anyone expect? I sighed as I reached into my chest. I was already packed. But I hadn't realized that my only pair of gloves, my red satin gloves that Remus had given me, wouldn't go with my dress. I had decided to transfigure a pair. I transfigured a pain of socks into a pair of soft green satin gloves with silver vines and roses embroidered around the edge.

I looked at the ring. Why were there snakes carved in it though? It did not make any sense. The emeralds and pearl didn't make sense. Sirius had no taste in jewelry and this was clearly some type of family ring. Sirius told me that it was his engagement ring to me. I did not remember him giving it to me and asking me to marry him though. It was strange. Why didn't I remember that? Sirius had looked infuriated when I had asked him about it. He had seized my hand and squeezed it roughly. I guess it was because I forgot that I was engaged to him and asked him what it was. I would be upset if I had asked him to marry me and he asked me about the engagement ring I was wearing. But he had regained composure very quickly and told me that we're engaged to be married after Christmas this year.

I sighed looking it over. It was an engagement ring. There was no doubt about it. But it seemed like it meant much more than that. A promise. I never took the ring off. Not even when I took a shower. It made me feel sick at the thought. Like I would be betraying a very good friend, or my true love or something of the like. Sirius insisted that I wear gloves over my hands though. I did not know why he would not want me to show off his engagement ring.

I finished dressing and went down to the common room. Sirius told me he would be waiting to escort me.

He stood there at the foot of the stairs.

"You did a wonderful job transfiguring that dress and those gloves my dear," Sirius said.

"I didn't transfigure the dress though. I thought it was a present from you. I do not know where it came from."

Sirius face and eyes darkened. He was beginning to get that angry look. He shut his eyes and shook for a second before he opened them and looked at me.

"Well I, for one, bet Remus sent it to you," he said. "You are he are very close right?"

"Yes. We're best friends."

"Question answered then," Sirius said with a calm look as he seized my hand and placed it on his arm roughly. He led me down to the Great Hall for the last meal I would eat at Hogwarts as a student.

We walked in together. I got dozens of hateful looks from the other girls as Sirius and I took our seats at the table.

"It is now time for you, the graduates of Hogwarts, to take your first uncertain steps into the world as adults. But first you may enjoy the rest of this night," Headmaster Dumbledore said with a smile and his usual twinkle in his eye.

Tonight was a feast just for seventh years who were graduating and the professors and we were all seated at one table.

"What would you like to eat Dearest?" Sirius asked and I noticed the smirk that he shot towards Professor Snape.

"Some chicken sounds good," I said and I felt Sirius put his hand on my thigh. He smirked at me.

I smiled back at him. He was so handsome and sexy and wonderful. He'd never cause me harm. He loved me. I sighed. I liked the adoration that radiated from him.

I looked toward Professor Snape. I could feel his hard, cold eyes glaring at us. I shivered and pressed closer to Sirius. I could practically feel the arrogance gleaming from his face. That always annoyed me, when he treated me like a prize. I placed a hand over his heart and I buried my face in his shoulder. I felt him wrap an arm around me.

Why was Professor Snape so angry? I had not seen him glare so angrily in a very long time.

- Severus Snape -

I glared at the pair of them. It ripped and tore at me to see the brilliant Miss Granger sitting with that asshole. She could do so much better. She deserved better than him. She deserved a monogamous partner who would respect her keen intellect and challenge her mind with arguements and provide intellectually stimulating colloquies. I don't know what she deserved. But what I did know was that I didn't want to see Miss Granger settle for less than what I knew she could achieve.

I continued to glare at Sirius. My glare intensified as Sirius smirked and flashed that jerky, haughty smirk at me as Hermione snuggled tightly into his shoulder. I wonder why she continued to wear those gloves. It was rather unsettling. I suppose over the several weeks we had spent together that I had come to feel a slight concern for her well-being.

Why was she always wearing gloves? It was unsettling. Did she have something to hide on her hands or had they been permanently damaged by the potion?

Hermione eventually withdrew from Black's shoulder and ate. She never looked up from her plate.

Almost two hours later we were all satiated.

"Well it seems we have all been well filled. Let the dance begin," Headmaster Dumbledore said with that vexatious, infuriating smile on his face.

There was just a very slow tune playing and Black was way too close to Hermione. He held her hips tightly and it looked like it hurt. They'd been dancing for about a hour and a half when I decided to interrupt them.

"May I cut in Professor?" I asked elongating professor to make sure they were both aware of how sarcastic I was being by giving that title to Black. I offered my hand to Hermione.

Sirius smirked before allowing Hermione to take my hand. I sneered at him.

I sighed as we began to dance. Suddenly a song I knew began to play, a song I'd not listened to in over twenty years. Too Lost in You.

I placed both hands on Miss Granger's lower back. She carefully and cautiously placed her hands up on my shoudlers. She smiled up at me for a second before lowering her eyes and looking at my chest.

"Miss Granger, that is a lovely dress." Where did she get the dress I'd given to Jane? How did she get it? What was going on? She'd also gotten the earrings that I'd given to my Jane.

"So Miss Granger, where do you think you will be working?" I asked after a slightly uncomfortable silence.

"I'm going into Medical Potion Research Professor. Please call me Hermione. You no longer need to maintain a student/teacher relationship. It would make me more comfortable if you would address me by my given name," she said in her soft, feminine voice. She smelled like freshly bloomed lavender on a nice spring day.

"Potion Research?" I asked. I was truly shocked. Why was she going into Potion Research? "Why?"

"Potions has always been my favorite class. I also have always wanted to do research on a topic of my choice. The first thing I am going to be working on is a Lycanthropy Potion," she said quietly. She still didn't look up at me. "I really want to help Remus."

"I think it sounds like an excellent and admirable idea, worthy of someone of your intellect. I think Potions was the perfect choice for you. It was going to be my suggestion if you had not decided what you wanted to do yet. Where do you think you will be living?" I asked. What was prompting all of these nosy questions? They were none of my business and I had never pried so much into the life of a student.

I removed one of my hands from her lower back and raised it to her chin to tilt her face so she was looking at me.

"I'm planning to live in Hogsmeade. Sirius and I want to be close together. If I was to live in London it would be slightly more difficult for us to get together," she answered still averting her eyes from mine. Why was she doing that? It was almost like she was afraid of something I would see if I looked into them.

"When did you and Black decide to be a couple?" I asked shielding the dismay and disconcertion the situation caused me.

"I do not really remember," she said screwing her face up as she thought. "How did you know? We haven't told anyone."

I sneered unable to stop myself. "When one watched Black look that smug, one tends to make the assertion that, once again, he's gotten way more than he deserves," I answered.

Miss Granger blushed, "Thank you Professor Snape. But Sirius is my fiancé and we plan to get married slightly after Christmas this year."

"When did you become engaged to Black?"

"I don't remember. I can't seem to remember a lot lately and it is very...distrubing," she said. She was starting to sound distressed. "I'm scared."

"Calm down Mis...Hermione. I do not want to upset you. Your memory seems to be failing. This is a very serious problem," I said. Females always seem to remember things of this nature much more vividly than males. I decided not to let her in on just how serious a problem it was. It looked like dangerous and possibly illegal work had been going on but I was unsure if there was any way to prove it. The stench of it was rolling off Black in waves. My eyes narrowed further. "You've not been using a pensieve, have you?"

"No, I am not using a pensieve."

Curious. Very curious.

Suddenly I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

"Pardon me Severus, but may I steal Miss Granger from you for a dance?" Remus Lupin asked.

I gave her one last look before turning her over to Lupin.

I walked over to the side of the room and stood watching them from the shadows.

"Trying to use your dirty Slytherin ways to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen," I heard the pretentious, jeering call of Sirius Black. Miss Granger would be quite a prize for any man to flaunt. She belongs to me and Don't forget it Snivellus!"

"Miss Granger is not a possession one can own or a prize one can win. But I suppose that a man with only a single cell for a brain does not have the mental facilities that are required for the capability of grasping such knowledge. I doubt she would be too impressed by your macho, chauvinistic, egotistical displays if she heard the way you talk of her. You speak of her as if she is the newest model of broom on the market. I'm sure as soon as the next version comes out you'll cast her to the side as if she has no more value than Hippogriff fecal matter. She deserves much better than you and she can do better. I can not, for the life of me, fathom why she is settling for less than what she is capable of scoring," I sneered leaning back against the wall.

"Miss Granger chose me so you might as well crawl back to your bat cave and hide there while you nurse your wounds," Sirius growled. "If you think Miss Granger is half as foolish as Jane was then you are very much mistaken. Miss Granger appears to appreciate the finer qualities in a man. Jane was under the impression that inner beauty was more important. Poor dead dear. She could have done better than you without trying."

"Jane and I were in love and we still are! You can mind your own damned business. Miss Granger has more than enough time to change her mind!"

"Jane is dead you delusional fool," Sirius said rolling his eyes.

"Delusional? I did not know you had such a large vocabulary."

Sirius growled, "Miss Granger does have time to change her mind but in my heart I know she won't."

"Oh you've a heart. That's news to me."

"Do you really think a beautiful girl would chose you, a disgusting greasy dungeon rat, over me?" Sirius jeered gesticulating grandly.

"One certainly did before. There is a fear in your eyes. A fear that you will lose what you've worked so hard to obtain. For your information, Love Potions and Memory Destroying Draughts can be oversome. I know these...conceptions...I will not degrade her by calling them feelings...have been magically induced," I sneered as I said feelings. "Unfortunately and regretably I can't prove it."

- Hermione Granger -

"Hermione, Harry and I are really worried about you," Rmeus said as he took my hand and placed the other on my lower back.

"Don't be Remus. I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. Please Remus," I said looking up at him sadly.

"Hermione. Why on Earth are you fraternizing with Sirius? You hate him."

"I do not hate Sirius. If you can't respect the fact that he and I are going to be getting married then, frankly, we can not be friends. Please Remus I do not want to lose you as a friend. Please," I said looking up into the soft brown eyes of my dear friend.

"Okay Hermione. But I need you to make me a promise."

"Alright," I answered quietly looking up at him and smiling.

"Promise me that you swear you are under no magical influence and you honestly, in your heart, want to be with Sirius. Your feelings changed so rapidly that I am worried. I am sorry and I need to know that this is what you want."

"I wish I could Remus but I do not remember what my feelings were before and I am scared. So scared. I am losing my past and my memories of things. They are fading, running away from me, and the faster that I run the more elusive the memories are. I can't catch them," I whispered shivering up against his chest and beginning to sob a little. My arms wrapped around him. "I don't remember. I don't remember what made me like Sirius."

Remus gently wrapped his arms around me and steered me carefully to a chair on the side. I sat down and held my head in stress.

"Hermione, why don't you remember?" Remus said kneeling in front of me. He rubbed my arms in an attempt to comfort me.

"Hermione, darling, are you alright?" Sirius asked sitting in the chair next to me. He wrapped an arm around me. "Would you like to leave dear?"

I shivered closer to Sirius.

"Yes Sirius. Please take me to the common room."

I hope you enjoyed it. We will be skipping a few months. Please send me a kind review.

Severus used big words! TEEHEE!